EP0023101B1

EP0023101B1 - Fabric-reinforced bonding sheet and method of using it to make insulated rail joints

Info

Publication number: EP0023101B1
Application number: EP19800302214
Authority: EP
Inventors: Bruce A. Marteness
Original assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co
Current assignee: 3M Co
Priority date: 1979-07-23
Filing date: 1980-07-01
Publication date: 1983-08-17
Also published as: ZA804420B; CA1145627A; AU530223B2; EP0023101A1; AU6067480A; US4292110A; JPS5619753A; DE3064572D1

Description

Most electrically-insulated rail joints are comprised of a pair of fishplates or joint bars which are adhesively bonded to the rails in order to fix the gap between the abutting rails. Typically the adhesives are two-part resin compositions such as a 1,2-epoxy resin and a crosslinking agent.
Two-part resin compositions are messy and difficult to use. The two parts must be thoroughly mixed and then troweled onto a fabric which provides sufficient bulk to insure adequate electrical insulation if the joint bars are metal. After the rails and joint bars have been heated by a torch, the resin- impregnated fabric is laid between the rails and joint bars, and bolts are inserted and tightened. If either the temperature is too high or there is a delay in completing the assembly, the resin can begin to gel before the bolts are tightened, thus resulting in an inferior adhesive bond.
Because of such problems, most railroads prefer to bond two sections of rail in a shop under well- controlled conditions, and subsequently to weld the bonded sections into the track. Not only is this a rather cumbersome, expensive procedure, but field welds tend not to be as reliable as the shop welds in the balance of the track.
Fabric-reinforced bonding sheets are known which comprise at least one layer of a reinforcing fabric saturated with a 1,2-epoxy resin composition which is stable at ordinary room temperatures and will cure to a thermoset state when heated to moderately elevated temperatures. It is believed that such bonding sheets have never been used for making electrically-insulated rail joints.
The present invention provides electrically-insulated rail joints which can reliably be made in the field and are more convenient to make as compared to the two-part epoxy systems of the prior art. Briefly, the present invention concerns a fabric-reinforced bonding sheet which has been shaped to fit the facing surfaces of a pair of joint bars and rails to be made into an electrically-insulated rail joint. The novel bonding sheet comprises at least one layer of a reinforcing fabric saturated with an intimate blend of (a) 1,2-epoxy resin having a Durrans' softening point of 50° to 110°C and (b) a dianiline having a melting point of 50° to 110°C in approximately stoichiometrically equivalent amounts (namely, within about 15 percent of stoichiometry, preferably within ten percent). If either the Durrans' softening point of the epoxy resin or the melting point of the dianiline were substantially below 50°C, the intimate blend might cure appreciably before putting the bonding sheet to use, unless refrigerated. Preferably, their softening and melting points are each at least 70°C so that at ordinary room temperatures they can be either pulverized together or individually pulverized and then admixed to provide fine powder mixtures that can be stored indefinitely at ordinary room temperatures without danger of blocking. If the Durrans' softening point of the epoxy resin or the melting point of the dianiline were substantially above 110°C, the high temperature required to fuse them together to provide an intimate blend could produce an undue degree of cure before the bonding sheet could be put to use. Also, the railroads prefer to employ the lowest possible temperature in making the rail joints.
Ideally the Durrans' softening point of the epoxy resin is so selected that at the temperature at which the dianiline melts, its viscosity is substantially the same as that of the dianiline. In order to achieve that relationship, it may be necessary to formulate the epoxy resin from a mixture of two epoxy resins, one having a Durrans' softening point above and the other, below the melting point of the dianiline.
The fabric-reinforced sheets made with epoxy resin and dianiline having softening and melting points of 60°C to 110°C can be stored at ordinary room temperatures for many months without any appreciable curing and can then be put to use to make insulated rail joints equal in quality to those made with freshly prepared bonding sheets of the invention. Whether freshly prepared or after long- time storage, the resin compositions of the bonding sheets fully cure to a strong, tough thermoset state when heated to about 140°C for 25 minutes or somewhat less.
A preferred 1,2-epoxy resin is a polyglycidyl ether of a polyhydric phenol such as a condensation product of bisphenol A and epichlorohydrin. Another useful polyglycidyl ether is the condensation product of 1,1,2,2,-tetrakis(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethane and epichlorohydrin having an average of about 3 oxirane groups per molecule and a Durrans' softening point of about 77° to 80°C. Another useful class of 1,2-epoxy resins is the polyglycidyl novolaks.
The preferred dianiline is methylene dianiline which melts at 90°C and is readily available at reasonable cost. Mixtures off 1,2-epoxy resin and methylene dianiline powders provide a highly desirable combination of properties when fused by heating. First, they remain liquid for a sufficiently long period of time to permit an insulated rail joint to be assembled with the rails preheated above the temperature at which the mixture fuses. Then the fused mixture cures to nearly full strength very quickly after gelling. Also, the times to gel and cure are only moderately affected by differences in temperature, so that the strength of the bonded rail joint is not noticeably affected if the preheating of the rails is not uniform. This can be better appreciated from the following data for a blend of approximately stoichiometrically equivalent amounts of methylene dianiline and a polyglycidyl ether of bisphenol A which has a Durrans' softening point of 80°C.
Loosely woven glass cloth, which can be readily saturated with a melted resin composition, is preferred as the reinforcing fabric of the novel bonding sheet. Nylon netting is also useful but is somewhat more expensive. Nonwoven polyester mats should also be useful.
Conveniently, the epoxy resin and the dianiline in fine powder form are dry-mixed and coated onto a continuous carrier which has a low-adhesion surface and is then drawn across a plate heated to a temperature about 25° to 50°C above the fusing temperature of the mixture of powders. The fused coating is squeezed into the reinforcing fabric to saturate the fabric with a resin composition which is quickly cooled before there is any appreciable reaction between the epoxy resin and the dianiline. In order to provide an intimate blend by merely fusing the mixed powders for a brief period of time, the maximum particle size of the epoxy resin and dianiline powders should be small, preferably about 10 micrometers. Although there is a cost saving by using larger particle sizes, the particle size of substantially all of the powder mixture should be less than 20 micrometers. At an average powder size of 40 to 60 micrometers, there was about 30% reduction in mechanical properties as compared to results using a maximum particle size of 10 micrometers.
Another convenient method for making the novel bonding sheet is to fuse the epoxy resin and the dianiline separately and to extrude them continuously through twin mixing extruders onto a continuous reinforcing fabric which is backed by a low-adhesion carrier. The resultant composite is immediately chilled to prevent any appreciable reaction between the epoxy resin and the dianiline.
In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 schematically shows apparatus for making the fabric-reinforced bonding sheet of the invention and
FIGURE 2 is a vertical section through an insulated rail joint made with the fabric-reinforced bonding sheet produced on the apparatus of Figure 1.

As seen in Figure 1, a mixture 10 of epoxy resin and dianiline powders is coated onto the low-adhesion surface of a continuous carrier 12. A more uniform coating is obtained if the coater knife 14 is vibrated. The powder-bearing carrier is drawn over a metal plate 16 which is sufficiently hot to fuse the powder coating. Preferably the temperature of the plate 16 is maintained about 35° to 50°C above the temperature at which both the dianiline melts and the epoxy resin becomes a free-flowing liquid.
A continuous reinforcing fabric 17 and another low-adhesion carrier 18 are drawn around a steel drum 20 which is heated internally with recirculating oil to maintain its surface at a temperature which may be slightly lower than that of the plate 16. The fused epoxy-dianiline composition 19 is squeezed into the heated fabric 17 both by the winding tension on the carrier 12 and by the rubber-covered pressure roll 21. The resultant composite is drawn around an internally cooled chilling roll 22. This solidifies the fused resin composition to provide a fabric-reinforced bonding sheet 24 which is removably adhered to the carriers 12 and 18 and is wound up with the carriers while the resin composition is still warm enough so that the bonding sheet is supple, preferably somewhat below 45°C.
By moving the carriers 12 and 18 at a rate of about 3 cm/second, the resin composition is a liquid for only about 60 seconds. If stored at ordinary room temperatures, the fabric-reinforced bonding sheet should remain fully useful for a period of a year or more since essentially no reaction takes place between the epoxy resin and the dianiline.
In order to make an insulated rail joint as shown in Figure 2, one or more layers cut from the fabric-reinforced bonding sheet 24 are warmed and formed in a wooden mold to provide a pair of pre-forms 24a which fit the facing surfaces of a pair of joint bars 30 and rails 32 (one of which is shown). Holes punched into the pre-forms receive bolts 34 and insulating bushings 36.
In a field assembly, after the facing surfaces of the bars 30 and rails 32 have been cleaned and heated, an adhesion-promoting primer layer may be applied to those surfaces, e.g., a dilute solution of the epoxy-dianiline mixture 10 in a quick-evaporating solvent. The punched pre-forms 24a are then put into place and the bolts 34 are tightened. Alternatively, mechanisms other than bolts can be employed to clamp the joint bars 30 to the rails. The clamping pressure should be maintained at least until the resin composition begins to gel. If the temperature of the facing surfaces is at least 50°C higher than the higher of the softening point of the epoxy resin and the melting point of the dianiline, this should be sufficient to cure the resin composition of the pre-forms without applying any additional heat. However, the facing surfaces should not be heated to more than 80°C higher than the higher of the softening and melting points in order to avoid thermal expansion problems. Furthermore, higher temperatures would reduce the time before the resin composition starts to gel.
The following example employs a high-melting 1,2-epoxy resin which is a condensation product of epichlorohydrin and bisphenol A having a Durrans' softening point of 75° to 85° and an epoxide equivalent weight of about 550. The example employs a heavy open-weave fabric of glass fibers which have a finish compatible with epoxy resin.

Example

By weight 100 parts of the above-described epoxy resin in powder form, 7.9 parts of methylene dianiline flakes, 4 parts of fumed silica and 10 parts zinc chromate powder were ground in a ball mill to an average particle size of 10 micrometers. This powder was applied to the glass fabric using the apparatus shown in Figure 1 of the drawing under the following conditions:
After stripping off the two low-adhesion carriers, one layer of the fabric-reinforced bonding sheet was used to bond two steel plates 1.6 mm in thickness using a heated platen press for 20 minutes at 138 kPa and 138°C. The resultant laminate exhibited an overlap shear strength (ASTM D1002) of 15,900 kPa. When the test was modified to avoid any peeling action, the steel plates yielded. When using heavier steel plates while avoiding any peeling action, the overlap shear strength was 41,400 kPa.
Pre-forms consisting of three layers of the fabric-reinforced bonding sheet were used to make an insulated rail joint for welded track of 132-pound/yard size using steel joint bars as shown in Figure 2. The length of the insulated rail joint was about one meter. Before making the joint, the rails and joint bars were heated with a torch to about 100°C, their facing surfaces were sandblasted, and the dust was blown away with compressed air. The rails and joint bars were then further heated with the torch to 150°C, and those surfaces were primed with 10% solution in methyl ethyl ketone of the same resin composition as that of the fabric-reinforcing bonding sheet. The pre-forms were laid on the heated joint bars, and these were quickly bolted onto the heated rails. The bolts were torqued to 1000 foot-pounds (140 m-kg), and the adhesive flowed out to form small fillets.
The fabric-reinforced bonding sheet of this Example is especially useful for making insulated rail joints in the field, because it is so convenient to make the adhesive bond and because the bond reaches virtually full strength quickly. The resin composition does not gel for 7 to 8 minutes at 135° to 150°C, thus providing adequate time to torque the bolts while the resin composition is still fluid. After the composition gels, substantially full bonding strength is reached in about 8 to 12 minutes, so that the track can be put back into service as soon as the rails have cooled moderately, primarily by conduction of the heat into the rails and the steel parts of the joint.

Claims

1. Fabric-reinforced bonding sheet comprising at least one layer of a reinforcing fabric saturated with a resin composition comprising an intimate blend of (a) 1,2-epoxy resin having a Durrans' softening point of 50° to 110°C and (b) a crosslinking agent, which composition is stable at ordinary room temperatures and will cure to a thermoset state when heated to moderately elevated temperatures, characterized by the feature that the crosslinking agent is a dianiline having a melting point of 50° to 110°C and the bonding sheet has been shaped to fit the facing surfaces of a pair of joint bars and rails to be made into an electrically-insulated rail joint.

2. Fabric-reinforced bonding sheet as defined in Claim 1, further characterized by the feature that the dianiline is methylene dianiline.

3. Fabric-reinforced bonding sheet as defined in Claims 1 or 2, wherein the viscosity of the epoxy resin at the temperature at which the dianiline melts approximates that of the dianiline.

4. Fabric-reinforced bonding sheet according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein the reinforcing fabric is made of glass, nylon or polyester.

5. Method of making an insulated rail joint using a pair of shaped bonding sheets as defined in any of Claims 1 to 4, which method is characterized by the feature that:

(a) one heats a pair of rails and a pair of joint bars so that the temperature of their facing surfaces is about 50° to 80°C above the softening point of the epoxy resin or the melting point of the dianiline of the shaped bonding sheets whichever is the higher and

(b) one clamps the heated rails and joint bars together with one of said shaped bonding sheets between each set of facing surfaces and maintains the clamping pressure at least until the resin composition of the bonding sheet begins to gel.